Renewable Energy

PETE: A New Solar Energy Conversion Process

Stanford engineers have discovered a process called photon enhanced thermionic emission (PETE) that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity, and could...

Generating Energy Innovation: Disrupting the Alternatives

In just the last few years, innovation in alternative-energy technologies have gained significant footholds in product development lifecycles and are rapidly changing our individual...

Introducing the First Solar & Wind e-zine

The latest e-zine from Green Design & Manufacturing is here! The premiere issue of Solar and Wind Power features articles, tech briefs, application stories, and more regarding alternative energy...

Planar Micro-Optic Solar Concentration

A new solar concentrator from Ph.D. student Jason Karp of the University of California, San Diego collects sunlight with thousands of small lenses imprinted on a common sheet. All these lenses couple into...

Fish Schooling as a Basis for Vertical Axis Wind Turbine Farm Design

Most wind farms consist of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs), but an alternative paradigm for wind energy extraction is found in vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) designs. A single spatially-isolated VAWT has a significantly lower power coefficient.

Effects of Cerium Removal from Glass on Photovoltaic Module Performance and Stability

In recent years, better stabilizer formulations for ethylene vinyl-acetate have been developed, giving more confidence in the long-term stability of PV packaging materials. Because of this, some manufacturers have stopped using Ce-doped glass. National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers studied Ce-free glass.

Molecules Found in Blue Jean Dyes May Lead to Better Solar Cells

Cornell University researchers have discovered a simple process – employing molecules typically used in blue jean and ink dyes – for building an organic framework that could...

Producing Biofuels from Woody Plants With No Waste

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a more efficient technique for producing biofuels from woody plants that significantly reduces the waste that results from...

Photovoltaic Metallization Paste

DuPont Microcircuit Materials (Research Triangle Park, NC) introduces DuPont™ Solamet® PV16x series photovoltaic metallization pastes for crystalline silicon solar cells. The photovoltaic metallizations are...

Microbial Genetic System Dissects Biomass to Biofuel Conversion

A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers, working with the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC), has made a critical step in the development of...

Integrated Solar Concentrator and Shielded Radiator

Manipulating Plant Growth Hormones Key for Biofuel Future

Auxin is a powerful plant growth hormone that tells plants how to grow, where to lay down roots, how to make tissues, and how to respond to light and gravity. Knowing how to manipulate...

$33 Million in Funding for Biomass R&D

The U.S. Departments of Energy (DOE) and Agriculture (USDA) jointly announced up to $33 million in funding for research and development of technologies and processes to produce biofuels, bioenergy, and...

Hermetic Feedthroughs: A Critical Component in New Flywheel Energy Storage Solutions

The phrase “everything old is new again” certainly applies to today’s flywheel technology. Forget the mechanical bearing, standard atmosphere 5,000 RPM...

Purple Bacteria and Photovoltaics

Purple bacteria are single celled microscopic organisms that were among the first life forms on Earth. The tiny organisms live in aquatic environments and use sunlight as their source of energy. Neil Johnson,...

Genetically Engineering Algae for Biodiesel

John Morgan, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University, is leading a portion of a federally funded effort based at Iowa State University aimed at creating genetically...

Generating Hydrogen from Water

Researchers with Berkeley Lab and the University of California, Berkeley have discovered an inexpensive metal catalyst that can effectively generate hydrogen gas from water.

Thin Film Absorbers for Solar Cells

Oregon State University researchers have made an important breakthrough in the use of continuous flow microreactors to produce thin film absorbers for solar cells - an innovative technology that could...

Electrical Current Stemming From Algae

Stanford scientists have harnessed a tiny electrical current from algae cells. They found it at the very source of energy production – photosynthesis - and it may be the first step toward generating...

Moving Toward a Carbon-based Solar Cell

To make large sheets of carbon available for light collection, Indiana University Bloomington chemists have attached what amounts to a 3D bramble patch to each side of the carbon sheet. The scientists...

Princeton's Plastics Hold Potential for Lowering Cost of Solar Panels

Princeton University engineers have developed translucent, malleable, and electricity-conducting plastics, which could represent a low-cost alternative to indium tin oxide...

New Path to Solar Energy Via Solid-State Photovoltaics

Berkeley Lab researchers have found a new mechanism by which the photovoltaic effect can take place in semiconductor thin-films. This new route to energy production overcomes the bandgap...

Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors

New large cell prismatic electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLC) from Ioxus (Oneonta, NY) are for transportation and utility applications and are lower in cost for the overall system design. The...

The Smallest Superconductor in the World

Scientists have discovered the world’s smallest superconductor - a sheet of four pairs of molecules less than one nanometer wide. The Ohio University-led study provides the first evidence that...

New Alloys Key to Efficient Solar Energy and Lighting

A recent advance by Arizona State University researchers in developing nanowires could lead to more efficient photovoltaic cells as well as better LEDs. ASU electrical engineers are...

Large Cell Ultracapacitors

Maxwell Technologies Inc. (San Diego, CA) has introduced its new K2 series large cell BOOSTCAP ultracapacitors. About the size of a soda can, the K2 series BOOSTCAP cells operate at 2.7 volts and incorporate design...

Power Generator With Thermo-Differential Modules

Mechanical Extraction of Power From Ocean Currents and Tides

A proposed scheme for generating electric power from rivers and from ocean currents, tides, and waves is intended to offer economic and environmental advantages over prior such...